Has this ever happened to you? You find a bowl full of delicious looking cherries sitting on the table. They’re clearly meant for eating so you grab a couple. They’re sweet and delicious so you have a few more. You sit down, get out your phone to check messages while you absent-mindedly continue to consume those cherries. Before you know it, you’ve eaten most of them, and now your poor stomach is protesting, “Too many cherries!” If only you could have exerted self-control and stopped after a handful.
Can you guess what our last sermon in the Fruit of the Spirit series is about? That’s right. Self-control. How well do you exercise self-control? Why is self-control even necessary? Let’s find out as we turn to our sermon text from 1 Peter 5.
One pastor (Eldon Reich) reported that when he announced to his congregation that he was going to be preaching on self-control, a member remarked: “I don’t have any problem with self, it’s the control that’s tricky.” Wouldn’t you agree? I don’t have any problem with myself and its desires, the problem arises when others don’t give me what I want! That’s why I become impatient, unkind, and grumpy. But we’ve already heard the Apostle Paul point out that these are acts of the sinful nature, not the Fruit of the Spirit. The Fruit of the Spirit is peace, patience, joy, and kindness to mention a few.
Do you see how self-control is related to those other characteristics? It takes self-control to patiently bear with others instead of condemning them. It takes self-control to be gentle instead of giving vent to your anger and flying off the handle about something. It takes self-control to maintain peace and being willing to be wronged instead of loudly insisting on your rights.
Why should we practice self-control if it takes so much restraint? The Apostle Peter tells us why in our text. He said: “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Satan is waiting for you to lose control the way a sniper will patiently wait for his target to carelessly expose himself to a clear shot. And like a careful sniper who doesn’t make his presence known, Satan often operates in the background, wanting us to believe that losing self-control isn’t really all that dangerous. We may have come to believe that because nothing permanently bad happened to us the last time we lost our self-control with alcohol or when we were on our last date.
But here’s the thing, Satan is just biding his time. He’s luring you more and more out into the open—away from your Savior so that when he finally does pounce, you’ll be an easy score. Isn’t that what happened to Judas? He failed to curb his greed so that although he may have only taken small sums from the disciples’ treasury at first, he became more and more care-less until he didn’t think much of selling his savior to make a few bucks!
Friends, what part of your life needs more self-control? What sins do you repeatedly give in to so that you’ve even stopped feeling guilty for them? Have you rationalized a break in a relationship by blaming the other person for all the wrong-doing? Do you excuse the Friday night binges because you earned it by staying sober the rest of the week? Do you look at pornography because, well, no one is getting hurt by what you do?
When attitudes like that crop up, think back to this text. Satan is a real enemy who seeks to do you real harm. Don’t take this threat lightly. Consider how shortly after creation Satan managed to convince a third of the angels to rebel. Angels! Spirits who were without sin and created to love and serve God. If Satan managed to get them to rebel against their God, we sinners should be easy targets for him.
Thankfully we have an ally in this fight: God himself. Peter wrote: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you” (1 Peter 5:6, 7). We resist the devil by submitting to God. Submitting to God like ducking inside a building when there is a hail storm raging outside. But do you find that you more often rely on your own smarts and power to get you through difficulties? How’s that working for you? Do you find easy solutions to your problems, or do you end up frustrated? There is no need to get frustrated, not when God has invited you to take all those frustrations and all of those concerns and cast them upon him. The word “cast” is the same word used for what the disciples did with their garments on Palm Sunday. They “cast” them on the donkey so Jesus could sit on them. Jesus invites us to do the same things with our cares and concerns—to cast them upon him so that he can carry them for us.
When we fail to regularly give those burdens to our Lord, we’re like the guy on moving day who thinks he can carry four boxes stacked on top of each other. It’s not the weight of the boxes that’s the problem, it’s the fact that he can’t see where he is going that’s going to be his undoing. In the same way, Satan loves it when we’re distracted with our concerns. That’s when he throws his roadblocks in our way to trip us up. Then he accuses God of not loving us when it’s really our own fault that we get ourselves into trouble. Are you getting the message here? Remain alert for Satan’s tricks and attacks, just as you remain alert when walking in a dangerous part of town.
But of course we don’t have to walk through life afraid. No, Peter assures us, “Resist [the devil], standing firm in the faith... 10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast” (1 Peter 5:8-10). Your gracious God has already lifted you up in the person of Jesus. When Jesus was lifted up on to the cross it was to suffer the punishment for our lack of self-control. And you and I were there with Jesus. We were also being lifted up—the way a child is thrust upward by a drowning parent in a desperate attempt to get a passing lifeboat to take the child on board to safety.
But this gracious God doesn’t just save, he also empowers. He will make you strong, firm, and steadfast. Jesus echoed that promise when he told his disciples: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit” (John 15:5). Notice how Jesus did not say if we remain in him that we might bear much fruit. No, he said we will bear much fruit. That’s a promise. So there’s hope for all of us when it comes to showing self-control. I can go to Jesus in prayer and say, “Lord, you know how much of a temptation this is, but you can help me withstand it, for that is what you have promised to do.”
Having said that, keep in mind that often the best way to show self-control is to flee. Isn’t that what Joseph repeatedly did when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce him? You too may have to flee the group of friends you have now if they keep enticing you to do things you know are not God pleasing. Or you may have to flee from a job that is making it hard if not impossible for you to be here to regularly hear the Word. If you’re having a hard time doing this, reach out to a fellow believer who can hold you accountable so that together you practice self-control.
This brings us to end of this sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit. Did you have a favorite sermon? Was it the one about faithfulness and how God wants us to be “sticky” even as he sticks close to us? Or did you like the one about gentleness as we were reminded that gentleness is not feebleness, but is power under God’s control?
Throughout this series I compared peace, joy, love, etc. to different fruit. Kindness was compared to a kiwi. Faithfulness to bacuri, a sticky fruit that grows in the Amazon. I think those comparisons were useful, but I’m afraid they may have given the impression that there are nine different fruits of the Spirit. But that’s not true. In Galatians 5 Paul clearly speaks of the Fruit (singular!) of the Spirit. That’s why I loved the title slide I’ve been using for this series. The Fruit of the Spirit can best be compared to a bunch of grapes. In other words, God doesn’t give joy to one person but withhold gentleness. Nor does he make someone kind but not faithful. The Holy Spirit works to produce in each one of us all nine characteristics. You are well-gifted and prepared to live as God wants you to live. You are not lacking anything from the Holy Spirit. He’s working in each of you to be loving, peaceful, joyful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and someone who exercises self-control. May God bless us as we seek to share the fragrance of this fruit. Amen.
SERMON NOTES
Agree or disagree? Explain: If you have self-control, then you can show patience, gentleness, kindness, etc.
How does Satan want to exploit our lack of self-control?
In what areas of your life do you need to exercise more self-control? Besides God, who can help you with this?
According to Peter, in what two ways does God help us in our fight against Satan?
Why is it important to know that we believers have received Fruit (singular) of the Spirit and not Fruits (plural) of the Spirit?
